| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Quest/Journey | search for origins, identity, perfection, fulfillment, love, treasure, fame, wisdom, or salvation. This sends the hero in search for some truth or information necessary to restore fertility, justice, and/or harmony to a troubled land. |
| The Task | This is a piece of the quest/journey in which the hero must accomplish some feat, often superhuman, in order to achieve the ultimate goal. |
| The Initiation | Situation refers to a moment, usually psychological, in which an individual comes into maturity. |
| The Ritual | This refers to an organized ceremony which involves honored members of society who officially bring the young man or woman into the realm of the community's adult world. |
| The Fall | The hero experiences some kind of downfall, descent in action. |
| The Battle between Good and Evil | Situation pits obvious forces which represent good and evil against one another. |
| Transformation | Character experiences a change from one form to another, physical or mental. |
| Father/Son Conflict | Tensions exist between father and son brought on by a separation during childhood or from some external source. |
| Creation | All cultures believe some supernatural Being or Beings brought the cosmos into existence. |
| Supernatural Intervention | Gods intervene on the side of the hero or sometimes against him. |
| Humanity vs. the Mechanistic World | Simply stated, this is another version of the battle of good vs. evil in which humanity or nature represents good whereas the forces of technology represent evil. |
| Tavern/Pub | Located on the edge or outlying spaces, a jumping off point, visited by the hero before beginning the actual adventure, where rumors and travelers from abroad. |
| Day | Represents safety, knowledge, and order. |
| Night | Represents danger, lack of knowledge, and disorder. |
| Forest/Wilderness | A dangerous place, a place of mystery and the unknown, a place of trials. Place of evil. |
| The Garden | Paradise, innocence, unspoiled beauty. An ordered and controlled place that is usually safe, happy and nurturing. |
| Trees | Denotes life and growth |
| Desert | Spiritual aridity; death; hopelessness; isolation; wasteland. |
| Water | Birth death, resurrection; creation; purification and redemption; fertility and growth. |
| Sea/Ocean | Mother of all life; spiritual mystery; death and or rebirth; timelessness and eternity. |
| Rivers | Death and rebirth; the flowing of time into eternity; transitional phases of the life cycle. |
| Islands and Ships at Sea | Spiritual, mental, and physical isolation or exile. |
| Mountains | Personal achievement; meeting place of earth and heaven; a spiritual peak. |
| Caves | A descent into the unconscious or inner self; a place to face innermost fears. |
| Maze | represents a difficult, confusing, or challenging task; in order to get out, the hero must discover something about his reality. |
| The Bridge | Link between worlds |
| Haven | Place of safety where the hero may be sheltered for a time while he or she regains health or strength. |
| Hero | A character who embodies the ideals of his or her society, and exhibits outstanding qualities and abilities. |
| Wise Old Man | Savior, redeemer, guru, representing knowledge, reflection, insight, wisdom, intuition, and morality. |
| Earth Mother | Feminine provider who offers spiritual and emotional nourishment. |
| Villain or Devil Figure | An evil character who attempts to destroy the hero. |
| Innocent or Initiate | Young heroes who, prior to the quest of journey must endure some training or initiation. |
| Outcast | This character is banished or exiled from a community for some crime committed against his fellow man, wandering from place to place. |
| Scapegoat | A sacrificial victim, a character who suffers or is blamed unjustly in order that others may escape blame or punishment. |
| Shadow | Alter ego or double, represents the hidden or repressed parts of the character. |
| Fatal Woman/Temptress | Characterized by physical beauty, she is one whose physical attractions and or powers of persuasion may bring about a hero's downfall. |
| Trickster | Character who through superior wit or cunning can deceive and manipulate those who seemingly have greater strength and authority, enjoys playing tricks on the stupid, pompous, arrogant, and greedy. |
| Damsel in Distress | The vulnerable woman who must be rescued by the hero, often used to trap or ensnare the unsuspecting hero. |
| The Unfaithful Wife | Woman married to a man she sees as dull or distant, is attracted to a more virile and interesting man. |
| Helpful Animals | These animals assist the hero and reflect that nature is on the side of the hero. |
| Loyal Retainers | Individuals are like the noble sidekicks to the hero. |
| Star-Crossed Lovers | Two characters are engaged in a love affair that is fated to end in tragedy for one or both due to disapproval of family and friends. |
| Creatures of Nightmare | Monster, physical or abstract is summoned from the deepest darkest parts of the human psyche to threaten the living. |
| Light vs. Darkness | Usually suggest hope renewal, or intellectual illumination; good. Implies the unknown, ignorance or desperation; evil. |
| Fire | Represents knowledge, light, life, and rebirth. Can also represent hell, lust, and evil. |
| Ice | Like the desert, this represents ignorance, darkness, sterility, and death. |
| Sun | Creative energy; thinking, enlightenment, wisdom, spiritual vision. |
| Magic Weapon | Sometimes connected with the task, this refers to a skilled individual hero's ability to use a piece of technology in order to complete a task. |
| One Forbidden Thing | Something that a character is instructed to leave alone and ignore, but the character's lack of self-control and curiosity gets the best of him/her and "evil" is permitted to enter his or her world. |
| Unhealable Wound | Physical or psychological, can never be healed fully. Indicates a loss of innocence and purity. |
| Serpent/Snake | Symbol of energy and pure force; evil, corruption, sensuality, destruction. |
| The Great Fish | Divine Creation and life. |
| Circle | Unity, harmony, completeness. |
| The Seasons | Spring=Birth/rebirth; Summer=life; Fall=death/dying; Winter=without life/death |
| Sky | Heaven, fate |
| Numbers: 3 | Light spiritual awareness, unity; male principle |
| Numbers: 4 | Associated with the circle, life cycle, four seasons,; female principle, earth, nature, elements. |
| Numbers: 7 | The most potent of all symbolic numbers signifying the union of three and four, the completion of a cycle, perfect order, perfect number; religious symbol; luck. |
| Numbers: 12 | 3 x 4; the complete large cycle. |
| Red | passion, blood, sacrifice, disorder, energy |
| Green | Growth, hope, nature, fertility, renewal; also envy, jealousy, decay |
| Blue | highly positive, secure, tranquil; spiritual purity; truth, intellect, calmness |
| Purple | royalty, regal, wisdom |
| Black | Color: Darkness, chaos, mystery, unknown, death, wisdom, evil, melancholy |
| White | light, purity, innocence; timelessness, the supernatural |
| Gold | Color: illumination, perfection |
| Yellow | enlightenment, wisdom |
Combine with other sets
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace